Ready or Not
by Anti-Sheep Era
Summary: [Paily] The girls have decided to give Emily a dare...will she follow through? I have decided to expand on this, not sure how many chapters yet!
1. Chapter 1

**Stay with me here...so I was struck with this idea for a story, don't ask me why or how! Just a bit of background...I had this idea of the girls chillin' one night, about to order pizza, maybe playing some truth or dare. Emily doesn't strike me as the type to pick dare very often (if at all) and so I imagine that she chooses dare and the girls decide that she has to flirt with the pizza guy and get his number (and stop short at kissing, even though Hanna is all for it). Something out of the ordinary for their Emily, cuz she is kind of a prude in the beginning ;) This is not affiliated with my other story (don't worry, I'll have the new chapter out soon!) and just a quick note that this story doesn't deal with "coming out"; which is to say that in this story, it is as natural being gay as it is straight! Oh and assume that Paily has never met. Please, read and review :))**

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**Ready or Not**

"Hi. So that'll be…"

Caught quite off guard by the way the girls were staring, open-mouthed and wide-eyed at her, Paige's greeting which started off enthusiastically enough quickly died out. Her eyebrows crashed together, her eyes darting over each of the girls' shocked expressions and briefly considered waving her hand in front of their faces. However, deciding quickly that these girls could not handle any sudden movements, she decided to speak.

"Uhm, your pizza?" she said, both hands holding out the pizza box to remind them why she was here since they seemed to have forgotten.

"Errmm, right, Emily? I believe you have the money?" Spencer said, being the first one to recover. Of course, that wasn't completely true considering that Hanna had erupted in a silent fit of giggles. Acting quickly, she grabbed Hanna and Aria, threw them behind her while pushing Emily forward. Emily, caught completely off guard, managed to catch herself before falling on top of the delivery girl. She had put an arm out in front of her, just in case, and that arm was currently resting on the other's shoulder. Paige had stepped forward when she saw Emily falling, holding the pizza with one hand against her hip and reaching for Emily with the other. With Emily's hand on her shoulder, and Paige's hand on Emily's hip, both girls came to a stop staring into each other's eyes. It was only when they heard the door slam (amidst more giggling) that the girls moved again, and rather awkwardly. Paige blushed, retracting her hand from the other girl and looked down at her feet. Emily pulled her hand away from the other girl, and not entirely sure as to what to do with them, awkwardly held her hands together in front of her.

"So…you deliver pizzas often?" Emily asked in a horrible attempt at idle conversation. Paige looked up quickly, not entirely sure she heard the other girl correctly.

"Uhm. Yeah, it's my job," Paige said, a little rudely. She instantly regretted being rude to this girl, but she felt ridiculously awkward and she suspected it was because of this girl that she felt that way. She didn't know how she felt about that. She was insanely pretty, tall with dark brown hair and dark tanned skin and Paige was certain that she never paid this much attention to anyone, let alone a girl.

"Sorry…" Emily said quietly, "I just wondered if you had been doing this for very long or whatever." _This is so stupid! That's what I get for choosing _dare, Emily thought, silently berating herself. However, she had to admit the delivery girl was quite fit.

Paige was at a loss as to what exactly was happening. Why was this girl talking to her? She thought about the way she had been greeted by all of the girls, how they reacted…and suddenly it all made sense.

"You were expecting a boy, weren't you?" Paige asked, glancing at the windows to the side of Emily and smirking when the blinds moved. "You and your friends have some kind of bet going on?"

"Yeah, kind of," Emily admitted sheepishly. She blushed a little, thinking about all that was required of her from her friends' dare. "I'm supposed to ask you for your number…" Emily trailed off, finding the trees across the street suddenly very interesting. Paige watched as Emily avoided eye contact with her, leading her to suspect that there was much more required of her…

"Do we have to make out?" Paige blurted, before she could stop herself. If she had blushed before, it was nothing compared to now. Emily's eyes darted quickly to Paige's own, surprised at her question. Quickly ducking her head she tried talking again. "I'm…I just meant…"

Emily was beginning to find this girl adorable, especially because of the way she kept ducking her head. She smiled, no longer nervous about talking with her. Plus, she's pretty cute, Emily thought as she looked the girl up and down appreciatively.

"I'm just supposed to flirt with you a little, get your number. But if you wanna make out…" Emily said coyly, enjoying the way the other girl was getting flustered. In the house, she could hear the girls catcalling. She stopped smiling when she saw how uncomfortable Paige seemed to be, standing in front of her with her head down.

"Hey, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable," Emily said quickly, reaching out to touch the other girl's arm. "What's your name?" she asked, hoping she hadn't scared the girl too much. The other girl looked up at her, her dark brown eyes looking questioningly into Emily's own. Emily returned her gaze, smiling softly at the girl. _Beautiful_…each girl thought of the other.

"Paige," she finally said. "My name is Paige." Emily grinned, happy that Paige was comfortable enough to tell her her name. Paige returned Emily's grin with a small smile of her own.

"Hurry up and get her number, I'm starving!" Hanna yelled from inside, causing both girls to jump slightly. Emily laughed and was pleased to see Paige chuckling as well.

"So, Paige, can I have your number?" Emily asked, playfully batting her eyelashes. Paige smiled, shaking her head at Emily's flirty ways. She held her hand out for Emily's phone and Emily handed it to her.

"Am I gonna have to expect calls and messages from your posse?" Paige asked as she input her information.

"I'd be lying if I said no," Emily admitted, adding, "but I'll make sure to keep it at a minimum."

As Emily reached for her phone in Paige's hand, she was surprised when Paige grasped her hand. Looking at her, she felt a small tingle work its way down her spine at the look Paige was giving her. Steady, confident, and with the tiniest smoldering glint in her dark brown eyes, Paige brought her hand to her lips, kissing the back of it gently but firmly. Biting her lip, it was Emily's turn to look down at the ground as she blushed.

"Don't feel as if you have to keep your messages to a minimum," she said as she let go of Emily's hand. Emily laughed.

"As long as you remember that you said that!" she replied playfully.

"Oh I'll never forget," Paige reassured her, "but before I forget why I came here, perhaps I should give you your pizza now. Here you go." As Emily received the pizza box, she gave Paige the money for their order.

"Good bye, Emily," Paige said, smiling.

"Bye," Emily replied, smiling back at her. "Thank you, Paige," she added as the girl turned to leave. Stopping, Paige turned to her and nodded.

"It was a pleasure."


	2. Chapter 2

**You guys win! Ok, so I hadn't planned on going anywhere with this. I just had an idea for something cute and simple and decided that was that. But since you guys asked for more, I am trying my best to deliver! My other story, Point of No Return, is coming along but I have finals and it's taking me awhile to update. This is just a small study break I took to give my mind a break. Any and all feedback is welcome, so please reviews! Especially since I wasn't going to do much with the story in the first place. Thanks for your support and reviews :)) Hope you all enjoy!**

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**Ready of Not**

**Chapter 2**

"Geeze, could you guys be any more obvious?"

Emily walked in to the kitchen with the pizza, which Spencer grabbed and placed on the counter.

"Hey hotshot," Hanna said winking at Emily, "so did you pull?" she asked, grabbing a slice of pizza.

"Yeah Em, you took the dare remember?" Aria added, grabbing a slice completely covered in peppers. To the left of her, Spencer was taking off the peppers on her own slice.

Emily shook her head in exasperation, sitting beside Hanna and grabbing a slice. It was half and half, Aria and Spencer's half completely covered in peppers per the terms of a previous dare (in Aria's favor, obviously).

"Ugh, how can you stand this?" Spencer asked Aria. Aria just smiled and took a bite of her slice.

"If you didn't get her number, you have to suffer the consequences…much like I am doing now," Spencer muttered, still picking off peppers. Reaching over, Aria grabbed the discarded pieces and placed them on her pizza.

"Yes, I got her number," Emily said. She pulled her phone out, which was quickly snatched by Hanna.

"Hey!" Emily exclaimed. Hanna, rolling her eyes, scrolled through her phone with Aria and Spencer quickly crowding her.

"You know, I could've shown you the number myself…" Emily began, but was quickly cut off.

"We want to see for ourselves," Hanna said. "Oh! Did you get a picture?!"

"What?" Emily exclaimed, "No! Besides, you know what she looks like! You guys were gawking at her like she had two heads or something."

"Lame," Hanna drawled out, still flipping through her contacts.

"So what's her name?" Aria asked.

"Her name is Paige," Emily said, smiling as she pushed a lock of hair behind her ear. Spencer raised an eyebrow, exchanging looks with Hanna and Aria. The three girls looked at their friend, who was smiling and looking off in the distance.

"Paige, huh?" Hanna commented, "I found her!"

"Ooh! Think she's off of work?" Spencer asked.

"Text her and find out, Han," Aria said. Glancing at Emily, she added, "Looks like we lost Emily anyhow."

Emily had zoned out, thinking of Paige. Especially that look she gave her as she kissed the back of her hand. Blushing slightly, Emily absentmindedly ran her fingers over the spot as she wondered whether or not she'd see Paige again.

"Done! Let's see what she says," Hanna grinned. Blinking, Emily shook her head slightly and turned to Hanna.

"What do you mean 'done'? What did you do…" Emily asked, frowning.

"I texted your girl and asked what she was doing. Common first texting stuff, right?" Hanna asked, looking at Aria and Spencer for support.

"Yeah, no need to worry Em. She actually kept it pretty PG," Aria remarked.

"PG? As if there was a need for anything beyond that!" Emily cried out. She knew the girls were just having fun, but she never knew what to expect when it came from Hanna's texts. Even Hanna's own texts in normal everyday conversation were a cause for concern. The girl definitely had a way with words.

"So what did you guys talk about?" Spencer asked, diverting the conversation.

"Well, we talked a little about her job…it was kind of awkward, considering how you three made your exit," Emily replied accusingly.

"Hey!" Aria exclaimed, throwing her hands up, "I didn't have much of a choice. Spencer pretty much manhandled me into the entryway!"

"Yeah, it was all on Spencer!" Hanna nodded in agreement.

"Excuse me! But somebody had to do something! If I hadn't grabbed you two, you'd still be standing outside with your mouths wide open!" Spencer sputtered, defending herself.

"Yeah, well, she knew what was up anyway," Emily said. "Besides, weren't you three listening in on us?"

The other three looked at each other with questioning expressions.

"Absolutely not!"

"We wouldn't do that!"

"There was no way we heard you asking if she wanted to make out," Hanna added, rather unconvincingly. Emily blushed.

"At least have the decency to look somewhat guilty," Spencer said to Hanna. Hanna just shrugged her shoulders bringing her attention back to Emily's phone, which had lit up.

"What did she say?" Emily asked enthusiastically, standing up to peer over Hanna's shoulder. Before she could read the text, Hanna turned the phone over.

"Oh c'mon!" Emily cried out.

"You know the rules! Sit your butt down, champ!" Hanna replied smugly. Fuming silently, Emily grabbed a slice of pizza and took a big bite. The one time she took the dare! If ever there was one word to describe Emily, "daring" would never be considered. Anytime the girls tried to sneak off to do something, Emily had to be cajoled into joining and she was always deemed "the lookout" when needed. She was the good kid, the one who was hardly ever in trouble. Ever since meeting the girls, however, she was steadily gaining confidence (if her acceptance of that dare was any indication).

"So Em…what would be your ideal first date?" Hanna casually asked, typing away.

"Well," Emily began, as she swallowed the last bit of her pizza, "I always thought I might like going to the movies, you know the one that shows the old black and white ones? Those are my favorite."

"Ooh and making out in the back row?" Aria added, winking.

"So is that what you and Fitz did on your first date?" Spencer asked, her eyebrows raised. "I remember that day, you couldn't even remember what movie you went in to watch afterwards. Or your own name." Aria just stuck her tongue out and went for another slice.

"But now?" Hanna asked, directing the conversation back to Emily.

"Now…I think it'd be nice to have a picnic. Something small, just the two of us. It would be nice to get to know one another and you can't really talk during a movie," Emily said.

"Such a romantic, Emily Fields!" Hanna declared. "So what are you doing tomorrow?"

"Uh…nothing, I think. I mean you guys are spending the night tonight," Emily replied, confused. Spencer and Aria made their way over to Hanna, taking a look at Emily's phone.

"Good, cuz we have a date!" Hanna whooped joyfully, high fiving the others in celebration.

"We…?" Emily asked, still lost, taking a sip of her soda.

"Yes, we! Paige has agreed to go out on a picnic with you!" Hanna squealed, laughing when Emily spit out her soda in surprise.

00000000000000000000000000

Paige had just clocked out, having delivered the last pizza of her shift. As she waited for the driver in front of her to cash out, she pulled out her phone to read the latest text she received.

**How about a picnic? :)**

"So who're you texting?" her manager asked as the other driver left. "Paige?"

Paige looked up, a small smile on her lips from the text. "I'm sorry, Shana. Here's my cash from the last delivery," Paige said as she handed over the money. She quickly went back to texting, missing the hurt look on her manager's face. Shana had never seen Paige smile like that before, and she was curious as to who might be causing her to do so. She tried again to make conversation with her as she pulled up the last order.

"Did you have a good pull tonight?" Shana asked, somewhat startled by how quickly Paige looked up at her. "As in tips?" Shauna clarified, though why she needed to was unclear to her.

"Oh right. Sorry, I'm kind of slow tonight," Paige replied sheepishly. She could feel her cheeks burning slightly, thinking of her encounter with Emily earlier.

"Is Paige McCullers blushing?" Shana teased, handing Paige her change. Granted, Paige hadn't been working there for too long, just a couple of months starting at the beginning of the summer. But Shana had developed a crush on the quiet girl and had taken to watching her and interacting with her in any way that she could. Paige was always very nice to her, but she could tell that she remained guarded. Whoever she was texting now seemed to have found a way to bypass that guard.

"It's funny, I actually met someone tonight," Paige confessed, in a voice tinged with the slightest hint of disbelief.

"Tonight?" Shana repeated uncertainly.

"Yeah," Paige replied, smiling and she turned to leave. "I'll see you on Monday!" she called out as she left the store. Shauna just stood there, wondering who it was exactly that had stolen Paige's heart.

As she climbed into her car, Paige's phone vibrated in her hand. She had agreed to a picnic with Emily, through whoever it was that was texting on her phone. Paige knew it wasn't Emily texting her, but it didn't really matter to her. She was obviously very close to her friends and Paige knew that it was a good thing to get along with the friends. Plus, they seemed to have a good sense of humor at least. The text she had just received gave her details about where they would meet up tomorrow and at what time.

Turning her car on, Paige couldn't help but grin. Tomorrow she would be enjoying a nice picnic with the prettiest girl she had ever seen. It was too early to get nervous, but she was definitely giddy at the thought of spending time with Emily on their first date.


	3. Chapter 3

**Thanks for your reviews! I'm glad you guys seem to be enjoying the story. So I did introduce Shana in here, but I was thinking it might be more of a cameo appearance. I'm actually going to incorporate the love triangle kind of stuff in my other fic, I think...still thinking about it tho! I feel like I'm playing favorites with my own children or something lol. This chap is probably more filler, but it's still moving the story along! Thanks again for reading (and your patience) and enjoy :)**

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**Ready or Not**

**Chapter 3**

"Let's go Em! We have a date today!"

Emily let out a noise which sounded equal parts annoyed, tired and humpback whale. Without opening her eyes, she grabbed one of the pillows from underneath her head and swung wide. Despite the fact that Hanna had been up (and on her second cup of coffee) she didn't see it coming, and was knocked sideways as she was perched on Emily's stomach. Hearing the "oomf!" coupled with the dip in the mattress that signified that Hanna had been overthrown, Emily smiled and nuzzled back into her own pillow. She was having a wonderful dream that involved making out with a certain pizza delivery girl and she didn't need Hanna ruining this for her too.

"Hey Han…maybe you should rethink your strategy."

"Aria, I hope this cup of coffee you brought me is just a preview of what's to come…it might as well be a shot glass."

Emily tried desperately to retain some kind of hold on dream-Paige (both literally and figuratively), but it was in vain. The girls were up, which meant she needed to be up and…Hanna was right, she had a date! Bolting up quickly, she grabbed at her hair and looked frantically between her friends. Well mostly Spencer and Aria, considering she had knocked Hanna over again in her haste.

"Geeze Em, calm down. Here, have some coffee," Spencer said, offering the cup she considered a downgrade to Emily.

"Spence, we don't all have your tolerance for caffeine. And I don't know what you're talking about, that's the biggest coffee cup I could find in Emily's kitchen!" Aria said exasperated.

"No…Spencer has her own special cups…they're in the cabinet beside the fridge. Kind of look like bowls with handles," Emily muttered groggily. Hanna crawled into view from the other side of the bed, deciding that she wasn't going to take any chances approaching Emily on her bed again. She looked up quizzically at the girl, who was still holding her hair.

"I hope you're not gonna meet Paige like that. You've got like a yabba-dabba-doo going on there," Hanna said, gesturing at her own hair.

Before Emily could retort, Spencer scoffed at Hanna. "Oh look who's talking, cockatoo," she smirked, watching Hanna mashing her hair down frantically. Emily pulled her hands away from her hair and rubbed her eyes. Having been entirely too anxious about her date today, Emily found that she could not get to sleep. It wasn't until they played one of Spencer's favorite games (picking words from the dictionary and guessing as many listed definitions as they could) that everyone seemed to finally pass out. She didn't even know when that was, but it didn't seem like she slept that long. Emily reached towards her night stand to get her phone, patting the usual spot and the surrounding area when she failed to locate it.

"Where's my phone?" she asked, looking over at her friends.

"Please, please, please?" Spencer begged, giving Aria her best puppy-dog eyes. But Aria looked like she was having none of that, as she pointedly sipped her coffee and avoided eye contact. Hanna walked over to her and sat on the edge of her bed, texting on her phone.

"Wait…is that my phone?" Emily asked, mildly outraged. "You have your own phone! Where is it?!" Emily exclaimed, throwing the covers aside and getting up. "Caleb is about to get one hell of a good morning text!"

"No, no! Here!" Hanna cried, shoving the phone back into Emily's hands. "I wasn't texting Paige! I just wanted to see if she was awake…"

"So you were texting her!" Emily pointed out as she scrolled through her messages. Sure enough, there was a "**Hey cutie! Is my foxy lady awake yet? :D**" text. Slightly mortified, Emily typed up a quick apologetic text and sent it.

"Hey I'm just breaking the ice! Trying to get all the awkward out of the way for you two lovebugs!" Hanna explained defensively. Emily couldn't even form a reply to that, because she knew that Hanna believed what she was saying. And it was kind of sweet, really.

"Hanna, all that awkward you're talking about stems from you," Aria said. "Anybody want more coffee? I'm gonna pour Spencer a bowl-full," Aria explained, ignoring the smug look on Spencer's face.

"I'll head down with you," Emily yawned.

Paige had just made it back to her house when she received a text. It was about 10 am and usually she was up and running way before now, but she went to sleep late and decided to sleep in. She had been quite anxious about her picnic date with Emily and after family dinner, she swam some laps hoping to tire herself out. Instead, it seemed to fill her with more anxious energy and so she watched some movies until she fell asleep. Her parents were off to church, which meant she had the house to herself. She walked into the house, pulled her headphones out of her phone and walked up to her room. As she climbed the stairs, she pulled up the messages on her phone.

**Please, please, please read this one before anything else! Hanna was texting on my phone before I woke up! Sorry about that! Btw, good morning :)**

_Hanna must've been the one texting me last night_, Paige chuckled to herself. Glancing quickly at the preceding text, she laughed out loud. She found it cute that Emily was freaking out about the text and wondered if she had seen the conversation that happened last night. This Hanna girl definitely had a good sense of humor.

**Why, good morning. Anything I can bring to the picnic?**

She set her phone down on her dresser and started gathering clothes to change into after her shower. It didn't take long 'til she heard her phone vibrating and she grabbed it to read the new message.

**Just your fine self ;) XOXO**

It wasn't even seconds later that she received another text:

**I'm sorry again! I just wrestled my phone away from Hanna! Don't worry about bringing anything, my friends owe me. Meet me at 1 at Wright's Playground :)**

Smiling at Hanna's antics and Emily's hurried messages, Paige replied that she would be there. She set her phone back on her dresser and walked to the bathroom.

"Are you physically unable to control yourself?!" Emily shouted at Hanna, who was still giggling behind her cup of coffee. Spencer was busy with the coffee machine, while Aria had begun taking out various pots and pans.

"You love me," Hanna said matter-of-factly. "Spencer, seriously, you have a problem."

"Look here lightweight, how about you stick to your sippy cup there and let me handle the big kid stuff," Spencer said as she turned the machine on.

"So what's on the menu for today?" Emily asked Aria, who had started pulling ingredients out of the fridge.

"Well I figured we'd keep it simple. Sandwiches, fruits, veggies…maybe even some cookies or muffins or something," Aria explained.

"Why not just ask your girlfriend to bring a veggie pizza or something?" Hanna asked. "Can't she like get it for free?"

"Hanna, I'm sure she could use a break from pizza," Spencer replied.

"Well then can she bring us a pizza?" Hanna asked innocently.

"No! No pizza for you!" Emily exclaimed. "I'm going to take a shower." She made sure to grab her phone on her way out.

"Hanna, get over here and start making sandwiches. Spencer, put all the caffeine to use and start mixing," Aria dictated.

"Who died and made you Iron Chef?" Hanna grumbled as she washed her hands. Spencer sidled up beside her to wash her hands too.

"Shhh…be careful," she whispered. "Gotta watch out for the small ones. They always go for the knee caps," Spencer said and Hanna nodded in agreement.

"Guys," Aria said quietly from behind them, causing both girls to jump. "I can hear you."

Emily made her way back upstairs, checking her phone for any messages. She really needed to keep her phone away from Hanna and she considered grabbing a ziploc bag to place her phone in so she could take it in the shower with her. Seeing nothing from Paige, she slipped her phone in one of her dresser drawers, grabbed some clothes and headed to the shower. In just a few hours she'd be on a date with the cutest delivery girl in an undisclosed, secluded spot (as far as her friends knew). She'd made sure to keep their meeting place a secret, so she could have some quality alone time with Paige and get to know her better. As soon as the door closed, Hanna peeked into Emily's bedroom to make sure the coast was clear. She slowly opened the top drawer in Emily's dresser, grabbed the phone and scrolled through the outgoing messages. Making a note of where they were meeting, Hanna put the phone back in the drawer and snuck back downstairs.


End file.
